RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 27, 2011) – The ETSU women’s basketball team begins a season-long five-game road swing on Monday night when the Lady Bucs travel to take on the Richmond Spiders inside the Robins Center. Tip is set for 7 p.m.

The Lady Bucs suffered their fifth straight loss to start the season after falling to MTSU, 78-63, on Saturday afternoon inside the MSHA Athletic Center. ETSU, who is off to its first winless start through five games since the 2003-04 season, has never lost six straight to start the year (dating back to 1968-69). The Lady Bucs haven’t lost six straight games in one season since dropping seven consecutive contests in 2001-02.

Once again it was turnovers and defensive rebounding that gave the Blue and Gold troubles against the Blue Raiders on Saturday. MTSU scored 26 points off 27 ETSU turnovers and totaled 24 second-chance points off 20 offensive rebounds. Freshman local product Cara Bowling (Elizabethton) took advantage of her 17 minutes off the bench by finishing with a team-high 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting.

Richmond (4-1) is coming off an 81-67 loss to a team the Lady Bucs will face later this week, Florida Gulf Coast. Nine of the 10 players who saw action for the Spiders recorded double figures in minutes played, while senior guard Abby Oliver finished with a team-high 17 points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Miah Register was the only other Richmond player to score in double figures after adding 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting.

The Spiders were picked to finish eighth (14 teams) in a strong Atlantic 10 Conference, while Oliver was selected Second Team All-Atlantic 10 in the preseason polls. Richmond returns 10 letter winners from last year's 18-win squad, including three starters. The Spiders added five freshmen to the lineup, three of which adding length at 6'3 or taller. In addition, Richmond boasts the youngest team in the conference and one of the youngest squads in the country as 11 of its 15 players are underclassmen.

Last season marked the first meeting between the two programs as the Lady Bucs defeated Richmond, 96-84, back on Nov. 14, 2010 in Johnson City. ETSU shot 52.5 percent (31-59) from the field and went 29-of-34 from the free throw line (85.3 percent). Four of ETSU’s five starters scored in double figures, including Destiny Mitchell (Bluffton, Ga.) finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds. Tara Davis (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) scored a game-high 27 points and went 14-of-14 at the free throw line, while Latisha Belcher (Martinsville, Va.) was a perfect 11-for-11 at the charity stripe to finish with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

Fans unable to make the trip to Richmond can listen to all the action on WXSM-AM 640 The Extreme Sports Monster as “Voice of the Lady Bucs” John Stevens will handle the play-by-play duties. Richmond will also offer live video and live stats via RichmondSpiders.com.